CAROLINA NATURALLY

Saturday, May 21, 2011

The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:
A question that has been burning a hole in your mind will ignite a mental fire today -- it's time to get an answer.
So how should you go about getting your query addressed?
Skip the sweet talk and don't beat around the bush -- go right to the source and ask what you want to know, point blank.
This person will be momentarily shocked by your boldness, but will be secretly thrilled that you care.
It's flattering to be the source of gossip.

Some of our readers today have been in:

Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Rome, Lazio, Italy
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Oviedo, Asturias, Spain
Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Ankara, Ankara, Turkey
Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

as well as Slovakia, Malta, Bulgaria, Israel, Finland, Austria, Norway, Georgia, Mexico, Peru, Kuwait, Serbia, Bangladesh, Latvia, Greece, Scotland, Hong Kong, Denmark, Wales, Iran, Singapore, Poland, Taiwan, Sweden, Afghanistan, Belgium, Tibet, Croatia, Pakistan, Romania, Paraguay, Sudan, Vietnam, Argentina, Cambodia, Egypt, France, Estonia, Puerto Rico, Maldives, Qatar, Brazil, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, Slovenia, China, Iraq, Ecuador, Nigeria, Colombia, Chile, Honduras, Paupa New Guinea, Moldova, Venezuela, Germany, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Ireland, Czech Republic, Vietnam, Norway, Finland

and in cities across the United States such as Brownsville, San Antonio, Austin, El Paso and more.

Today is:

Today is Saturday, May 21, the 141st day of 2011.

There are 224 days left in the year.

Today's unusual holidays or celebrations are:

O Henry Pun Off Day
National Endangered Species Day
The Preakness Stakes
and
The End Of the World.

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

President Obama's Weekly Address

Remarks of President Barack Obama
As Prepared for Delivery
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Washington, DC

This week, I went to Memphis, Tennessee, where I spoke to the graduating class of Booker T. Washington High School. Graduations are always happy occasions. But this commencement was especially hopeful – because of just how much the kids at Booker T. Washington High School had overcome.
This is a school in the middle of a tough neighborhood in South Memphis. There’s a lot of crime. There’s a lot of poverty. And just a few years ago, only about half of the students at the school graduated. Just a handful went off to college each year.
But folks came together to change all that. Under the leadership of a dynamic principal and devoted teachers, they started special academies for ninth graders – because they found that that’s when a lot of kids were lost. They made it possible for students to take AP classes or vocational courses. Most importantly, they didn’t just change the curriculum; they created a culture that prizes hard work and discipline, and that shows every student that they matter.
Today, four out five students at the school earn a diploma. 70 percent continue their education, many the first in their families to go to college. So Booker T. Washington High School is no longer a story about what’s gone wrong in education. It’s a story about how we can set it right.
We need to encourage this kind of change all across America. We need to reward the reforms that are driven not by Washington, but by principals and teachers and parents. That’s how we’ll make progress in education – not from the top down, but from the bottom up. And that’s the guiding principle of the Race to the Top competition my administration started two years ago.
The idea is simple: if states show that they’re serious about reform, we’ll show them the money. And it’s already making a difference throughout the country. In Tennessee, where I met those students, they’ve launched an innovative residency program so that new teachers can be mentored by veteran educators. In Oregon, Michigan and elsewhere, grants are supporting the work of teachers who are lengthening the school day, offering more specialized classes, and making the changes necessary to improve struggling schools.
Our challenge now is to allow all fifty states to benefit from the success of Race to the Top. We need to promote reform that gets results while encouraging communities to figure out what’s best for their kids. That why it’s so important that Congress replace No Child Left Behind this year – so schools have that flexibility. Reform just can’t wait.
And if anyone doubts this, they ought to head to Booker T. Washington High. They ought to meet the inspiring young people who overcame so much, and worked so hard, to earn their diplomas – in a school that believed in their promise and gave them the opportunity to succeed. We need to give every child in America that chance. That’s why education reform matters.
Thanks for listening, and have a great weekend.

Obama awaited in ancestral home

Local resident Julia Hayes holds a US flag in her bedroom in Moneygall, Co Offaly, as Obama fever sweeps the village.

President Barack Obama will set foot on his ancestral homeland and follow in the steps of some of his predecessors when he touches down in Ireland on Monday.

Full Story

Comments, Comments, Comments, Comments and a Review

We've been reading your blog from the beginning and it has never failed to provoke thought and entertain us.
Gilles and Nicole in Paris, France

Happened on your blog a few months ago and put it on my daily reading list.
Mary in Portland, Oregon

I love this blog.
Stanley in Hobart, Tasmania

Keep standing for humanity, wish more would.
Susan and Lucia in Barcelona, Spain

Narrow minds beware this blog will destroy your little world!
A review from an unknown critic in cyberspace.

The end of the world is at hand

http://bitsandpieces.us/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/imagesbeware-the-raptor.jpg

Top Doomsday Predictions Gone Bust

Time to break out the champagne and party hats because it's that time of year once again: doomsday.

Read more

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Atheists Offer Pet Rescue for Judgment Day

Worried about what happens when Rex is left behind after the Rapture? One group is here to help.

Read more

'Judgment' attracts skeptics, entrepreneurs

Even those who haven't bought into the idea that the world will end Saturday are marking the occasion.

Theory's origin

Also:

http://bitsandpieces.us/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/imagesrapture-prank.jpg

It's the end of the world as we know it

REM

CDC zombie warning spoof

CDC issues zombie outbreak advice

The disease center says preparing for ghouls is no different than getting ready for other disasters.

What you need

Also:

The Gate to Paradise

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l9g27pj9j81qdjtubo1_500.jpg

Or Valhalla, Or Shambala, Or Shangri-la, Or Avalon, Or Aslan , Or ...

Lifeguards making $200K

$200K pay for some lifeguards riles city

Newport Beach, Calif., is facing a swell of anger after reports of the sky-high salaries.

But most earn a lot less

Also:

Salaries up for new grads

Earning potential up for class of 2011

The average starting salary offer is on the rise for the first time in three years.

Hot degrees for four fields

Also:

How she got debt-free

Daily habits that keep her out of debt

Laura Cone set herself a goal to owe nothing by age 30 and succeeded.

Five questions she asked herself

Also:

Non Sequitur

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Epic Fail

Massive Tea Party held in South Carolina

Two teabaggers show up and they were the atheist teabaggers - the rest were at home awaiting the 'rapture'.
(OK, so about 30 really showed up and there is no such creature as an atheist teabagger - but admit it, it's funny either way.)

What more can you say about teabaggers

Teen who challenged Bachmann to debate receiving threats .

The 16-year-old from Cherry Hill says several commenters have called her a "whore."

Her father, Wayne, says he's concerned for his daughter's safety.

Murdoch's phone hacking even larger than thought

Who else wonders if this happened in the US as well?

The Guardian:

The Metropolitan police holds evidence that could prove hundreds of people had their phones hacked by the News of the World, Scotland Yard told the high court, a far greater number than had previously been believed.

Barristers for the Metropolitan police said notes seized from Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator on the paper's books, showed he made a note of 149 mobile phone pin numbers and around 400 unique voicemail numbers. Both are used to access messages left on mobile phones.

Jason Beer QC, for the Metropolitan police, told a high court hearing the figures were: "a snap shot in time as of last week". Until Friday, the police had maintained Mulcaire kept a record of just 91 pin numbers.

Renovated Disney ride gets a TSA checkpoint

The Star Tours Star Wars simulator ride at Walt Disney World has re-opened after a long rehab. It's been updated with the latest technology and effects, and been rejigged to add that de rigeur element of all long-distance travel: a TSA checkpoint analog. Bruce Schneier calls it the "normalization of security" -- that is, making invasive security measures seem natural and normal.

The second room of the queue is now a security check area, similar to a TSA checkpoint. The two G-series droids are still there, G2-9T scanning luggage and G2-4T scanning passengers. For those attraction junkies, you'll remember that the G-series droids are so named because in the original Disneyland Park version of the ride, they were created by removing the "skins" from two of the goose animatronics from the soon-to-close America Sings attraction (Goose = "G" series). While we won't tell you why, you'll enjoy paying a lot of attention to what the scans of the luggage show is inside. When it's your turn to go through the passenger scan (a thermal body scan), you may be verbally accosted by a security droid. Also, keep an eye out in the queue for an earlier version of RX-24 ("Captain Rex") from the original Star Tours; he's labeled "defective" and has some familiar dialogue.

Walt Disney World Resort Update

Snapshot reveals a black hole's jets

A network of radio telescopes scattered around the Southern Hemisphere has produced the best-ever view of cosmic jets erupting from a supermassive black hole at the center of another galaxy.

Full Story